Quantitative Trader

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are building a quantitative trading desk focused on systematic strategies in Indian listed derivatives. We are seeking a Quantitative Trader to research, develop and trade systematic strategies in Indian index futures and options.

This is a P&L-owning role with end-to-end responsibilityfrom hypothesis generation and data research through backtesting, live deployment, risk management and post-trade analysis. The typical trading horizon is minutes to several days, with emphasis on modelling and statistical edge rather than ultra-low latency.

The desk is strategy-agnostic: directional, momentum, mean reversion, volatility, relative value, event-driven, calendar and other systematic approaches are all welcome.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Quantitative Research & Strategy Development

• Identify, formulate and test systematic trading hypotheses across Indian index derivatives.
• Develop predictive models for returns, volatility, market regimes and event-driven behaviour using statistical and machine-learning techniques where appropriate.
• Research options opportunities across strikes, expiries, volatility surfaces, term structure and event windows.
• Develop and maintain implied-volatility surfaces and analyse changes in smile, skew and term structure.
• Build research frameworks that rigorously address look-ahead bias, overfitting, multiple testing, survivorship bias, transaction costs and regime changes.
• Assess strategy robustness, scalability and capacity, including where and why an edge deteriorates.

Trading, Execution & Risk

• Own a live trading book and progressively manage capital based on demonstrated performance.
• Monitor and actively manage options exposures including delta, gamma, vega and theta, with consideration of vanna, charm, volga and other second-order risks.
• Translate research outputs into practical position sizing within defined risk, margin, liquidity and drawdown limits.
• Develop realistic execution assumptions covering spreads, slippage, market impact, transaction costs, expiry-day costs and liquidity across strikes and expiries.
• Monitor live strategy behaviour and identify deviations between model expectations and realised performance.
• Perform systematic attribution and post-trade reviews across profitable and adverse periods and feed findings back into research.

Quantitative Infrastructure

• Build and maintain infrastructure required for independent research and trading.
• Work with tick-level, futures and options-chain data, including data cleaning, feature generation and historical reconstruction.
• Develop tools for signal generation, volatility-surface analysis, portfolio analytics, execution and real-time risk monitoring.
• Write reliable, well-tested, production-quality Python code suitable for collaborative use.
• Contribute to shared research frameworks, libraries, analytics and trading infrastructure.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science or a related quantitative field.
• 2+ years of experience in quantitative trading, research or a comparable role.
• Strong understanding of options pricing, Greeks and listed derivatives.
• Strong Python skills, including NumPy, pandas and scientific/ML libraries.
• Solid knowledge of statistics, time-series analysis, hypothesis testing, estimation and model validation.
• Strong understanding of backtesting pitfalls and quantitative research methodology.
• Experience with Indian equity/index derivatives is highly valued.

PREFERRED BACKGROUND

• IIT/NIT/ISI/IISc or comparable quantitative background.
• Experience trading Indian index futures and options.
• Experience optimising Python for large-scale research and data processing.
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop and run systematic strategies.

OUR PERFORMANCE BAR

We evaluate strategies on risk-adjusted, net-of-cost performance, with a working benchmark of Calmar 3 over a rolling 12-month period. We value robust research, honest risk assessment and a repeatable process over impressive but fragile backtest numbers.

YOU WILL THRIVE HERE IF YOU

• Prefer ownership and measurable outcomes.
• Are intellectually honest about losses and drawdowns.
• Change your view when the evidence changes.
• Would rather rigorously reject nine strategies than deploy one without sufficient evidence.
• Enjoy systematic, research-driven decision-making.

LOCATION

Gujarat. Open to relocating to Mumbai within 12–18 months.